Happy 4th of July! Yes, it was yesterday, but it’s a sort of a long weekend and I’m sure many of you are still celebrating with family and friends. So you can carry your holiday fun right into your reading, here are some brand new books that feel Fourth-of-July-ish (lightning, fire, light…all somehow reminiscent of fireworks and barbecues)!

Marina is the first person to cross the Arclight boundary – the wall of light surrounding and protecting people from the Fade. For the people within the Arclight, the Fades are frightening beings. The world there is dark. Everyone from the Arclight who has come in contact with the Fade has died, everyone but Marina. While she has no memory of it, she has a deep connection to the Fade and she must cross boundaries to discover what it is. Dystopia fans, check this one out!

A retelling of the Greek mythology of the Furies. When their anger at being outcasts, misunderstood nobodies in their clique-filled California high school becomes too big for them to bear, three girls find themselves with the powers of these great Greek mythological goddesses. Their anger transforms them and allows them to transform the world around them. The power is amazing at first, but they begin to realize it causes harm, so the girls must learn to temper their tempers or live with the consequences. Fans of Rick Riordan’s mythology-based series the Lightning Thief will enjoy this!

Sneak Peek!“When you’ve got an overbit and only one real friend and you’re what grown-ups euphemistically call ‘a late bloomer’ (meaning I’m short and skinny where I shouldn’t be skinny and I just got my period), you pretty much accept that every day is bound to be a series of humiliations, large and small.” (Text copyright 2013 by Jill Wolfson)

Member of the immortal Sithe (fairy-esque) world, Seth, is not wanted by either his courtly mother or his angry father. His half-brother Conal is the only one willing to enter his life and make something of it. Conal begins training Seth as a warrior, just in time, too, for the two boys get tangled in a misunderstanding that gets them both exiled to the mortal world. In 16th century Scotland, the Sithe are feared and Conal and Seth must hide their true identities amid the tumult of religious wars and witch hunts. Pick this up if you couldn’t put down Melina Marchetta’s Lumatere Chronicles. Published in the UK several years ago, but new to the US.

Sneak Peek!“You deal with him. This was the first and last communication my mother ever had with my father about me.” (Text copyright 2010 by Gillian Philip)